Vocabulary Words – WEEK 4

GRADE 3
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY
ouch scooter elbow spoil
mouth loose owner noise
about choose window point
county crook towel oyster
thousand wood town poison
ourselves stood crowd enjoy
GRADE 4
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY
adult aunt principal shy
pupils uncle secretary outgoing
partner parent counselor energetic
neighbor grandfather janitor withdrawn
human grandmother volunteer grumpy
citizen grandchild patrol bubbly
GRADE 5
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY
fade issue misty hasty
dose empire waxy lobby
slave inhale briskly policy
prime expose anxiety slivery
independence glare revolutionary ivory
GRADE 6
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY
threat host Egypt Christian
dealt volts likely entry
threaten Christ unique illegal
peasants crusades item instrument
treasury violent dinosaur possibly
treacherous diet legal supplied

Reading Comprehension – WEEK 4

 Dinner Disaster
“Ugh, meatloaf again? I hate meatloaf!” Matt yelled. “I’m not eating this.”
Matt’s mom and dad looked at each other. Matt’s outbursts had been happening at
least once a week all summer long.
“You know what, Matt? We’re going to let you take over dinnertime from now on.
You can pick the meals and cook them, as long as they’re healthy,” Mom said.
“Good, we’re going to eat good food every night!” Matt answered.
The next day, Dad sat down with Matt to make the meal plan so he could go grocery
shopping. Matt had already been thinking about his favorite dinners. “We’re going to have
chicken tonight, and spaghetti tomorrow, and macaroni and cheese the next day,” Matt
started.
“Woah, hold on now,” Dad said. “What else are we going to have with the chicken?
We need to have at least one vegetable with each meal, and usually we have another side to
go with it.”
“Oh, yeah. Um, we can have corn with the chicken,” Matt said.
“Sophia does not like corn,” said Dad.
“Well, it’s my choice, so I’m going to make corn,” Matt replied.
“OK, but she might complain at dinner tonight. Are you ready for that?” Dad asked.
“Yeah, whatever,” Matt answered.
Matt and his dad spent the next hour figuring out the whole week’s meals and side
dishes. It was a lot more work than Matt expected, and almost every time he picked
something out, his dad would tell him that someone in the family wouldn’t like it. It was very
frustrating.
“This is impossible!” Matt said, exasperated.
“Yes, it is hard. Your mother and I try very hard to make everyone happy, but
everyone has different tastes, and sometimes, we just can’t please everyone.”
“Fine, we’ll have to just go with this plan this week. Next week I’ll try to make
everyone happy,” replied Matt.
When his Dad was finished grocery shopping, it was time for Matt to make his first
meal. His parents were both in the kitchen to help him since he didn’t know how to cook yet.
They looked up the recipes for chicken, rice, and broccoli with cheese. Wow, that’s a lot to
do, Matt thought, as he looked at the directions for everything. He was usually playing video
games or outside while his parents made dinner.
It took almost an hour to make dinner. There were so many steps! Matt was tired and
extra hungry when dinner was finished. He was also proud of himself - he made dinner! And
he knew he would like it tonight!
“Ew, this rice tastes funny,” Sophia said. Matt took a bite. It did taste a little funny.
But he’d worked so hard! He felt like he might cry.
“It’s OK, Matt, cooking is hard. It takes a long time to figure it out. Sophia, be nice
and please take three ‘no-thank-you’ bites. Matt worked really hard on this dinner,” Mom
said.
The next day, Matt didn’t want to cook dinner.
“It’s hard,” he explained to Mom. “It is hard, but your father and I do it anyway. How
are we going to eat, otherwise?” said Mom.
“We should just go out to eat every night, then everyone can get what they want and
no one has to cook or clean,” Matt answered.
“I guess we need to work budgeting into this, too,” Mom quietly sighed. “We spent
about $190 on groceries this week. That was for 7 nights of dinner, so if we divide that, it
comes out to about $27 each night. Does that make sense so far?”
“Yes,” replied Matt.
“Last time we went out to dinner,” began Mom, “we spent about $75. How does that
compare to the groceries?”
“That’s a lot more than $27.”
“It is, and that adds up. It would be really nice to go out every night, but that would
mean you couldn’t play soccer, and Sophia couldn’t do gymnastics. We’d probably have to
move to a smaller house and Dad and I would have to share a car. Do you think that’s worth
it?” Mom asked.
 “Oh, wow, I guess not. I’ll get started with dinner,” said Matt. Again, he was tired
and hungry when dinner was finally ready. 4. Why do you think Matt’s parents decided
“I don’t like corn,” cried Sophia. Matt realized then how his parents must feel every to let Matt be in charge of dinner for a
time he complained about dinner. It took all of Matt’s willpower not to yell at his little sister.
He had worked so hard on dinner, and it was impossible to make sure everyone liked every little while? Did they expect this reaction
part of every meal!
“I’m sorry, Sophia. I’m sorry, Mom and Dad. I shouldn’t have yelled at you guys
from him?
about dinner all the time. I didn’t know how hard it was to pick out food everyone likes, and
how hard it was to cook all of the food. I don’t want to take over dinner anymore, I won’t
5. Create a week’s worth of healthy meals
complain,” Matt remarked.
for your family. Ask your family if you
“Thank you, Matt,” Mom and Dad said. Dad continued, “We’ll take back dinner
responsibilities. You’ll have to do it enough when you’re grown up!” Matt felt a lot better. He can help prepare the meals!
happily finished his dinner and never complained about a meal his parents made again.

Questions: (Answer the questions verbally.)

1. How would you describe Matt? Would
you describe him the same way at the
beginning of the short story and at the end
of it?
2. Retell the story in your own words.
3. What does “exasperated” mean in this
story? How do you know?